Again, apologies for the massive delay! I had a friend staying over, and then I went to London for a few days and met Joanna Lumley! So that really made my year. But now it's back to the fic. This will be the last real chapter, and I'm planning an epilogue after this, but it has only been half written. Hope you enjoy and I'd love a review if at all possible!

Chapter 8

Alex decided to make a detour past the hotel to see if Layla was in. The receptionist told her she had gone out about two hours ago, so Alex decided to hang around in the lobby for a while in the hope that she'd turn up. After having waited for half an hour, Alex decided to give up and head for the scene of the crime. She'd taken an unmarked pool car, as not to draw attention to herself too much.

Alex got out of the car and looked around across the field near the docklands where Rana had been found, on that cold December morning nearly two months ago now. She didn't know what she'd expected to find here, especially after all this time. Whatever evidence there might've been that was initially missed would've been washed away by the winter's heavy rainfall.

"Oh Rana, what on earth were you doing here?" she muttered to herself as she walked along the side of the field, wrapping her coat tighter around herself to seek protection from the icy cold wind. All of a sudden she thought she heard something, and she was sure it wasn't the wind. She came to an abrupt standstill, and the moment she wanted to turn around she felt a sharp blow to the back of her head before everything went black.

"Granger, where's DI Drake?" Gene bellowed from his office, not even bothering to come out.

Shaz hurried to his office, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink in anticipation of the lie she was about to tell. "She eh…went shopping with Molly, Guv." Unfortunately Shaz had never been good at lying, and Gene saw right through her.

"I know she's not. Molls was in school until an hour ago, and she's just phoned me to ask if she could speak to her mum, so where is she really?"

Shaz bit her bottom lip and glanced at the clock. It was four thirty, which meant that Alex still had half an hour to get back here, but she knew she wouldn't be able to stall that long.

"Alright then," Shaz started. "Ma'am went out around two-ish, and she told me to tell you she was going shopping in case you asked. But in fact she was going to the scene of the crime to have a look around. She said she'd be back by five o'clock though so she should be here any moment."

Gene couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew Alex had gone off on stupid little investigations of her own before, which usually ended in him saving her at the very last moment, but he thought she'd learned her lesson by now. He hadn't felt this angry in a while, but at the same time he was scared. Surely she wouldn't put herself, and the baby, in danger? Suddenly a feeling of dread crept over him, and he knew something wasn't right. It was ten to five now, and he just knew she wouldn't be walking through those door within the next ten minutes.

He grabbed his coat from his office and strode towards the double door, slapping Chris's headphones off in the process and throwing Ray's mag into a corner.

"Chris, Raymondo, with me. NOW!"

Alex awoke with a splitting headache, the pounding in her head from where she'd been hit so intense that it was almost as if she had gone deaf. Everything looked blurry and she blinked a couple of times, hoping it would clear her vision a bit. When she was finally able to see better she started taking in her surroundings. From what she could make out she appeared to be in an old warehouse, though it was hard to tell as the only source of light came from the windows high up, and a solitary light bulb hanging from the ceiling in the distance. She tried to move, but both her hands and feet had been tied together by a tight rope. Screaming for help was no use either, as she'd been gagged as well. Her feelings of panic started to rise as it dawned on her that there was no way she could get away, and that nobody knew where she was exactly.

She wondered how she could've been so stupid to put herself in danger like this. She feared for her baby's life and her own, she feared she'd never see Molly or Gene ever again. The tears ran freely down her cheeks, while she was slowly giving up hope of making it out of there alive. And then she felt it, a flutter of movement, followed by a stronger, more powerful kick. Alex breathed a sigh of relief. She'd been so scared when she didn't feel anything at first, but at least now she knew that the baby was fine, and it gave her a sparkle of newfound hope that she would live to see this through. She just hoped that Shaz wouldn't stick to her promises and would tell Gene where she'd gone.

The red Audio Quattro roared to life and sped through the streets of London heading for the docklands, with Gene firmly behind the wheel and Ray and Chris clinging onto their seats for dear life. They knew the Guv drove like a maniac, but this was unlike anything they'd experienced before.

"Steady on Guv," Ray said as he gripped the seat in front of him even tighter. "We do want to arrive all in one piece."

"Raymondo, DON'T tell me how to drive my car!" Gene barked over his shoulder.

They arrived at the docklands shortly afterwards, just as it was starting to get dark. The three men took their flashlights out of the car and went off in different directions, searching the premises for any sign or clue about Alex's whereabouts.

Gene felt more anxious with every minute that passed. He scanned the ground carefully with his torch, making sure he covered every inch before he moved on. His heart stopped for a moment when he came across something familiar: Alex's red scarf. Shit!

He looked around trying to locate Chris and Ray, and called them over. "Radio in for backup now, we need to search the area. I found Bolly's scarf."

Alex could hear footsteps approaching, but had no idea from which direction they came because of the big resonance of the room she was in. All of a sudden lights were switched on, and Alex had to squint her eyes for a moment to be able to adjust to the sudden bright lights after sitting in the darkness for so long.

Someone was walking towards her. A young woman with black hair who Alex immediately identified as Layla, Rana's older sister.

"I see you've woken up then," she said as she stood still in front of Alex, removing the gag from her mouth..

"What do you want?" Alex asked her. "I don't know what kind of sick game you're playing, but you won't get away with it."

"Tut tut, that's quite confident coming from someone in your position. Exactly how would you want to stop me? Last time I checked your hands and feet were tied."

"What is it you want?" Alex asked again, ignoring Layla's previous remark. "What have I ever done for you to treat me this way?"

"You see," Layla said, not answering Alex's question," you came a little too close for comfort. My brother called me from the station this afternoon, and told me that you no longer thought he was the killer. However, one of the other officers apparently told him that you were going to speak to me again, and I simply didn't feel like it."

She twirled around Alex for a moment, almost as if she were dancing, and produced a knife from inside her jacket.

"I didn't want you or anyone else to question me about my sister again", she continued. "As you might've noticed, I didn't like her very much."

Alex shuddered as she caught sight of the knife, but tried to remain calm and keep Layla talking.

"So how come you didn't like your sister?" Alex asked as casually as she could manage.

"Why? WHY? Because she was a year younger than me, the baby of the family. Prettier, cleverer, all in all the perfect daughter. And then there was me. No wonder they chose to arrange a marriage for her instead of me, even though it was only right that I should get married first. But then I found out about her dirty little secrets, I found out that she wasn't so perfect after all."

Layla stared at the knife in her hands for a moment, as if contemplating her next move.

"Back home she would've been stoned to death for what she did, you know that?" Layla asked.

Alex nodded. "Yes, I am aware of that," she answered.

"It would've suited me fine," Layla continued. "It would've been exactly what she deserved. But Aziz didn't feel the same way, unfortunately. He told me he wanted to help her, to save her and to prevent shame from being brought upon our family. Now I want nothing more than maintaining our family's good reputation, but sinners have to be punished."

Alex hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was wise to ask the most important question that was on her mind. "Did you kill your sister, Layla?"

"No, I didn't," she answered. "I punished her for the crimes she'd committed; the adultery, the incestuous relationship with her brother. I don't think I ever met anyone as impure as my very own sister."

Alex shuddered involuntarily, partly because of the cold and partly because of the knife that Layla was still gripping tightly with both hands.

Layla started speaking again. "So yes, I suppose you could say I killed her. I knew she'd planned on running away, and that some man called James was helping her. So I left a note for her at the hotel, pretending to be James. I told her to come to the docklands, because I needed to show her something amazing. I had planned to talk to her first, to ask her why she'd done the things she had. But when I saw her approaching I got so angry, so I grabbed a piece of wood and hit her over the head repeatedly. She fell face-down and didn't get up again, so I left her there. It was even easier than I thought it would be." She finished her story with a smug grin spreading across her face, which made Alex's stomach churn.

"Now, as I said, you came too close for my liking. You would've figured out the truth sooner or later, while I'd rather have people think that she wandered off by herself and got hit over the head by a beggar or something."

Her mood changed all of a sudden, and she went from being chipper to furious in a matter of seconds. " My plan was working out wonderfully until you lot got involved! And you will pay for this!"

"Besides", she slipped back into her seemingly good mood again, "you're quite a bit like my sister, aren't you Alex? An adulterer. Having a bastard baby. Yes, you're a little slut, just like my sister was. So I'm afraid you'll meet the same fate as her. You see, sluts need to be punished for their deeds."

By now Alex had really started to panic. This girl was completely insane, but she had no means of escaping her. Alex was getting desperate now, and the little hope of being saved had now abandoned her. She tried her best to stay composed, but couldn't help the solitary tear that ran down her cheek.

"Crying now, aren't we? Well crying won't get you anywhere my dear. I'm immune to your petty emotions."

Layla kneeled down beside Alex, now holding the knife firmly in her right hand. Alex gasped as she noticed the close proximity between her and the sharp, metal instrument.

"So where shall we start?" Layla thought out loud. "Here?" holding the knife close to Alex's throat. "Or perhaps…here?" lowering the knife to her stomach.

"P-please, I'm begging you." Alex whispered, the tears again streaming down her cheeks.

Layla had no time to reply, because at that precise moment a door to their right flung open and Gene and Ray stormed in, guns at the ready.

She grabbed Alex tighter and held the knife to her throat. "Don't move or I'll slit her throat!" she yelled in desperation, clearly panicked by this sudden change.

"Right, you let her go unharmed, and I promise not to kill you immediately," Gene shouted.

The two men were slowly closing in on her, and Layla froze for a moment, not sure of her next move. She didn't have time to undertake any action, because suddenly she felt a pair of hands grabbing her from behind and dragging her away from Alex. She tried to fight her attacker, who turned out to be Chris, but didn't stand a chance as Ray was with them within a second and handcuffed her.

The moment Chris got hold of Layla, Gene rushed to Alex's side and untied her hands and feet before pulling her into his arms. Alex buried her face in his chest as her small frame shook violently from the sobs that racked through her.

"S'okay Bolls, I'm here now. Don't worry, I'm 'ere. Everything's going to be ok." He murmured into her ear by means of comforting her.

Gene was relieved to find Alex all in one piece. But it had been a close call this time. A very close call.

TBC